Liberalism in Serbia
Encyclopedia
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Serbia
. It is limited to liberal
parties
with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
and later in Yugoslavia
. After the restoration of democracy liberal factions became active again. Today, the only functioning party with parliamentary representation is the Liberal Democratic Party which has a clear free market
profile. It is also very concerned with human rights issues.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. It is limited to liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
Introduction
Liberal parties were active in former SerbiaSerbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and later in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. After the restoration of democracy liberal factions became active again. Today, the only functioning party with parliamentary representation is the Liberal Democratic Party which has a clear free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
profile. It is also very concerned with human rights issues.
From Liberals to Nationalists
- 1848: Beginning of differentiating of political currents, liberals noticeable next to the conservatives
- 1858: Liberals organized themselves though not yet as political party in the modern sense
- 1881: The group established the Society for the promotion of Serbian Literature (Дружина за помагање српске књижевности) NGO
- 1883: The organization is formed into a political party: Liberal Party (Либерална странка)
- 1904: A left-wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Liberal Democratic Party (Либерално демократска странка) returning to original liberal ideas, the remainder continues as the National Party (Национална странка) straying far away from liberalism
- 1905: The ⇒ Liberal Democratic Party reunited the National Party into the People's PartyPeople's Party (Serbia)The People's Party was a political party in Serbia.At the last legislative elections, 28 December 2003, the party was part of the For National Unity alliance, that won no seats....
(Народна странка) of the liberal center - 1919: The party merged with the Independent Radical Party and the Serbian Progressive PartySerbian Progressive Party (historical)The Serbian Progressive Party was a liberal political party in Serbia that existed from 1881 to 1919.-Origins:The origin of the Progressive Party can be traced back to a political grouping known as "Young Conservatives" that had existed from 1871...
(among many others) into the ⇒ Yugoslav Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (Yugoslavia)The Yugoslav Democratic Party, State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats and Democratic Party was the name of a series of social-liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom...
Progressive Party
- 1842: The Constitution-defenders (Уставобранитељи) are organized, first forefathers of the progressives
- 1868: The Young Conservatives are organized, although not yet as a political party
- 1881: The Serbian Progressive Party (Српска напредна странка) is founded with many strong liberal ideas
- 1896: The party dissolved
- 1906: The party is reestablished, fully reformed
- 1914: The conservative faction seceded as the Serbian Conservative Party (Конзервативна странка)
- 1919: The party merged with the People's Party and the Independent Radical Party (along with many others) into the ⇒ Yugoslav Democratic Party
- 1920: The party is reestablished by the remainder that didn't join into the Democrats
- 1925: The party ceased to exist
Radical Party
- 1903: Liberal wing secedes from the People's Radical PartyPeople's Radical PartyThe People's Radical Party of Serbia was a political party formed on January 8, 1881, which was active in the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes...
and forms the Independent Radical Party (Самостална радикална странка) - 1919: The Independent Radical Party merges with the Serbian Progressive Party and the People's Party, along with many other political forces from former Austria-Hungary into the pan-Yugoslav State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats (Државотворна странка демократа Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца / Državnotvorna stranka demokrata Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca)
From Democrats to Liberals
- 1919: A group of hard-core republicans secedes
- 1920: The republican dissidents form the Republican Democratic Party (Републиканска демократска странка / Republikanska demokratska stranka)
- 1921: Republican Party is renamed as Yugoslavian Republican Party (Југословенска републиканска странка / Jugoslovenska republikanska stranka)
- '21: The party is formally named as the Yugoslav democratic Party (Југословенска демократска странка / Jugoslovenska demokratska stranka) gaining a statute
- 1924: A faction formed the ⇒ Independent Democratic Party (Самостална демократска странка / Samostalna demokratska stranka)
- 1929: monarchic dictatorship is established and parties are banned
- 1935: preserving structure, the Democrats return into politics with the reintroduction of multi-parliamentarism
- 1945: Parties are again banned, JDS goes into pacifist resistance to Communism
- 1948: JDS is destroyed by Communists, but "Our Word" (Naša reč) emigrant newspaper is organized maintaining Democrats' ideology
- 1963: emigrants reform the party as the Democratic Alternative (Demokratska alternativa) emigrant movement abroad
- 1968: student liberal demonstrations in Belgrade, opposition to Communist dictatorship formed => Committee for the Protection of Human Rights (Комитет за заштиту људских права / Komitet za zaštitu ljudskih prava), considered predecessor of the modern Democratic Party
- 1982: Democratic Alternative ceases to exist
- 1989: Reestablishment of the party declared
- 1990: The party is reorganized as a political party, but just in Serbia
- '90: "Our Word" stops editing
- 1991: A nationalist group seceded as the Serbian Liberal PartySerbian Liberal PartyThe Serbian Liberal Party was a political party in Serbia. It was founded by a group of 10 members of the Democratic Party who left their former party only a few days prior to the 1990 parliamentary elections...
(Српска либерална странка / Srpska liberalna stranka) - 1992: Right wing seceded as the Democratic Party of SerbiaDemocratic Party of SerbiaThe Democratic Party of Serbia is a political party in Serbia.-Foundation:The Democratic Party of Serbia was founded when a faction of the Democratic Party that supported its involvement in the Democratic Movement of Serbia split from the party and formed their own in 1992.Soon after the March...
(Демократска странка Србије / Demokratska stranka Srbije) - 1996: A faction seceded as the Democratic CenterDemocratic Centre (Serbia)The Democratic Centre was a political party in Serbia. It was founded in 1996 by Dragoljub Mićunović.At the last legislative elections, 28 December 2003, the party elected 5 seats on the list of the Democratic Party. After the elections it merged into the Democratic Party....
(Демократски центар / Demokratski centar) - 2001: The party changed its ideology to social democracy
- 2004: The ⇒ Democratic Centre returned into the Democratic Party
- 2005: A faction seceded as the ⇒ Liberal Democratic Party
- 2007: ⇒ Civic Alliance of SerbiaCivic Alliance of SerbiaCivic Alliance of Serbia was a social-liberal party in Serbia.Known widely by its three-letter acronym in Serbian, GSS was founded and registered in 1992...
merged into the Liberal Democratic Party
From Union of Reform Forces of Yugoslavia to Reformist Party
- 1989: The pan-Yugoslav Union of Reform Forces of Yugoslavia (Savez reformskih snaga Jugoslavije) is founded
- 1991: The party is renamed in Serbia into the Reformist Party (Reformska stranka)
- 1992: The party merged with the Republican Club (Republikanski klub) into the Civic Alliance of SerbiaCivic Alliance of SerbiaCivic Alliance of Serbia was a social-liberal party in Serbia.Known widely by its three-letter acronym in Serbian, GSS was founded and registered in 1992...
(Građanski savez Srbije)
Civic Alliance of Serbia
- 1992: The ⇒ Reformist Party merged with the Republican Club (Republikanski klub) to form the Civic Alliance of SerbiaCivic Alliance of SerbiaCivic Alliance of Serbia was a social-liberal party in Serbia.Known widely by its three-letter acronym in Serbian, GSS was founded and registered in 1992...
(Građanski savez Srbije) - 1996: A left wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Social Democratic UnionSocial Democratic Union (Serbia)The Social Democratic Union is a social democratic political party in Serbia.At the last legislative elections, on January 21, 2007, the party was a member of the LDP-GSS-SDU-LSV Coalition that won 15 seats....
(Socijaldemokratska unija) - 2007: The party merged into the ⇒ Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal leaders
- Čedomilj MijatovićCedomilj MijatovicČedomilj Mijatović was a Serbian statesman, economist, historian, writer, politician, diplomat and one of the...
- Milan PiroćanacMilan PirocanacMilan Piroćanac , was a prominent Serbian statesman and politician, leader and founder of the Progressive party , and a Prime Minister of the Principality, later Kingdom of Serbia in the 19th century.- Life and career :Piroćanac was born into a family originally from the Pirot area in...
- Milutin Garašanin
- Stojan NovakovićStojan NovakovicStojan Novaković , was a Serbian literary critic, scholar, politician and diplomat, and the foremost Serbian historian of nineteenth century, holding the post of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia on two occasions.He was born in the western Serbian city of Šabac and died in the southern city of...
- Ljubomir DavidovićLjubomir DavidovicLjubomir Davidović was a prime minister of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.Davidović was born in Vlaško Polje....
- Milan GrolMilan GrolMilan Grol was a Serbian literary critic and politician.-Biography:Milan Grol studied in Belgrade and in Paris. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Philology and Literature at the University of Belgrade in 1899. He studied literature and theatre for two years in Paris...
See also
- History of SerbiaHistory of SerbiaThe history of Serbia, as a country, begins with the Slavic settlements in the Balkans, established in the 6th century in territories governed by the Byzantine Empire. Through centuries, the Serbian realm evolved into a Kingdom , then an Empire , before the Ottomans annexed it in 1540...
- Politics of SerbiaPolitics of SerbiaThe politics of Serbia function within the framework of a parliamentary republic. The Prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly of Serbia...
- List of political parties in Serbia